“Citizens for Protecting Taxpayers and Parental Rights” launched the “Yes on 6″ campaign last month, advocating for a constitutional amendment placed on the November ballot by lawmakers last year.

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The Florida Supreme Court in 2003 struck down a 1999 parental notification law because of that clause, ruling that even children had the right to privacy.

The following year, voters passed a constitutional amendment requiring parental notification before a girl can have an abortion. Florida law now requires that parents or guardians be notified at least 48 hours before a girl can have an abortion and allows for judge’s to grant permission in certain cases.

But that law doesn’t go far enough, proponents of Amendment 6 on this year’s ballot argued.

Parents should be required to sign off on abortions as they must for body piercings and tattoos, said Randy Armstrong, a Tampa obstetrician and president of Citizens for Protecting Taxpayers and Parental Rights.

“On the one hand, Florida state laws honor the right of parents by requiring parents’ consent if their minor child should need medication as simple as an aspirin at school,” Armstrong said. “Yet a full surgical procedure like an abortion, which can result in permanent health or psychological damage or even death to their minor child, is exempt from this requirement. We believe it is unfair to parents.”

The backers of the amendment? The Florida Catholic Conference and the Diocese of Venice. Because no one knows better what is good for children than a bunch of priests who have never had any.

The idea that ‘parental rights’ should trump anyone’s right to bodily autonomy, regardless of age, is disgusting. You don’t own your children’s bodies, and trying to legally enforce what they can and cannot do with them is a gross violation of human rights. I’m not really sure why we think it’s okay to require minors to get permission for tattoos or piercings, either – the problem isn’t NOT requiring parental permission for ending a pregnancy, the problem is requiring parental permission for the other stuff. (Then again, this is a culture where a whole lot of people think it’s okay to cut off bits of infants’ genitals – mainly male infants, it’s much more frowned upon for female infants – so I’m not really surprised.)